ESPNU Selects Longwood at UNC Asheville as Jan. 12 Wildcard Game
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – ESPNU has selected the
Longwood at UNC Asheville men’s basketball contest as its first Big South Wildcard broadcast of the 2022-23 season, it was announced today by the Big South Conference office. The game will move from its current Wednesday, Jan. 11 date to Thursday, Jan. 12 and will tip at 7:00pm inside Kimmel Arena in Asheville, N.C.
The match-up will mark the first meeting between the squads on ESPNU. It will be UNC Asheville’s 14th appearance in the Big South’s ESPNU Wildcard series, and fourth for Longwood. The teams both went 8-5 during the non-conference season, and are tied for the most wins in the league this season.
UNC Asheville collected non-conference wins over UCF, Western Carolina, UT Martin, South Carolina State at East Tennessee State. Picked third in the conference preseason poll, the Bulldogs currently rank first in the Big South in field goal percentage (49.2) and three-point shooting (38.6), in addition to second in scoring offense (79.5). Asheville is led by Big South Preseason Player of the Year
Drew Pember (18.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, 2.8 blocks) and
Tajion Jones (14.7 points, 48.2 percent from three-point range).
Longwood closed the non-conference season with wins over VMI, Fairleigh Dickinson, Delaware State, St. Francis-Brooklyn, The Citadel and South Carolina State. The defending Big South Champion Lancers are the favorite to repeat in 2022-23, and currently rank first in the league in scoring margin (+10.4), assists (14.3) and assist/turnover ratio, while ranking third in scoring (79.1). Longwood has four players averaging double-figures, led by preseason All-Conference pick
Isaiah Wilkins (12.3).
This is the 10th year of the Big South’s ESPNU Wildcard series, which again features six Thursday broadcasts –- Jan. 12 (Longwood at UNC Asheville), Jan. 26, Feb. 2, Feb. 9, Feb. 16 and Feb. 23 -- that are selected 14-21 days in advance. A total of 41 games have been played in the series that began in 2013-14, and while the home teams are 28-13, the 41 games have been decided by an average of 8.90 points, with 25 of those being decided by single-digits.